The Divisive Politics of Slavery

Unit 1- Slavery and the Nation Divided

Differences Between the North and the SouthNorth South

Differences Between the North and the SouthNorth South

UrbanIndustrial RailroadsFactories Many ImmigrantsNo Slavery

Differences Between the North and the SouthNorth South

UrbanIndustrial RailroadsFactories Many ImmigrantsNo Slavery

RuralAgricultural based“King Cotton”Little industryFew Railroads Few Immigrants Slavery- Southerners feared the loss of slavery would mean loss of culture

I. SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIESThe issue of whether

slavery in California and the West would be legal led to heated debates in Congress

Gold rush led to application for statehood for California (1849)

CALIFORNIA BECAME A STATE

IN 1850

II. COMPROMISE OF 1850Southerners

threatened secession, the formal withdraw from the Union, over the issue

Henry Clay worked a Compromise

For the North: California would be admitted as free state, sale of slaves banned in Washington D.C.

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

For the South: A more effective fugitive slave law

Residents of New Mexico & Utah would vote themselves-”popular sovereignty”

III. FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW (ACT)Runaway slaves were not

entitled to a trial by juryAnyone helping a slave

escape was jailed for 6 months and fined $1,000

Northerners were upset and often helped hide fugitive slaves; some states passed personal liberty laws that guaranteed slaves a fair trial

IV. UNDERGROUND RAILROADNetwork of white

and African-American abolitionists that risked their safety to help slaves escape

“Conductors” hid fugitives and directed them to the next “station”

V. Harriet TubmanFamous “Conductor”

that escaped slavery and vowed to help others do the same

She made 19 trips back to South and freed over 300 slaves (Including her own parents)